How to Submit a Specimen

Step 1.

Fill out an Order Form ensuring that at least two specimen identifiers are included on both the order form and the specimen itself.

Step 2.

Package the order form along with the specimen. The following table describes shipping conditions and preferred specimen handling procedures for samples submitted to the Molecular Microbiology Lab. Please refer to the list of Acceptable Specimens for more information.

Specimen Type

Specimen Handling Information

Fresh Tissues and Fluids

Fresh tissues and fluids are preferred to fixed material (see below).

Tissue or fluid placed in a sterile, DNA-free container is optimal for testing.

Some anticoagulants and additives can interfere with testing. Please refer to our Acceptable Specimens page for more information.

For solid tissue, we do not process more than 1 cubic cm.

Ship fresh frozen tissue specimens frozen (on dry ice).

Formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissues

Formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissue (PET) is accepted.

PET cassettes are preferred to sections or unstained slides. We will return the cassette upon completion of testing. If the entire PET cassette cannot be released, we do accept sections from the tissue. Please submit 10 sections of 10 micron thickness in a DNA-free tube with two patient identifiers.

Unless instructed otherwise, if >1 PET per requisition is submitted, tissue from a maximum of 2 PETs is chosen and combined in 1:1 ratio. For analysis of >2 PETs, separate requisitions are required. Blocks from different body sites will be considered separate tests and should be accompanied by separate request forms.

Multiple cassettes can be pooled into a single assay. Simply indicate the desired combination(s) on the request form (eg. "Please combine blocks 9620A and 9620B for single assay"). Please note: combining two or more PET specimens for a single assay will result in testing of less material from each PET, potentially reducing the overall sensitivity.

Formalin fixation dramatically reduces the sensitivity of the assays due to reduced template yield and quality. Fresh tissue is the optimal specimen of choice, as it reduces the chance of introducing exogenous DNA templates or microorganisms during embedding/fixation.